Affiliations: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science,
Beijing 100012, China | EVSE, Faculty of Engineering, University of Regina,
Regina, SK, Canada, S4S0A2
Abstract: In order to understand the key mechanisms of the composting
processes, the municipal solid waste (MSW) composting processes were divided
into two stages, and the characteristics of typical experimental scenarios from
the viewpoint of microbial kinetics was analyzed. Through experimentation with
advanced composting reactor under controlled composting conditions, several
equations were worked out to simulate the degradation rate of the substrate.
The equations showed that the degradation rate was controlled by concentration
of microbes in the first stage. The degradation rates of substrates of
inoculation Run A, B, C and Control composting systems were 13.61 g/(kg ˙ h),
13.08 g/(kg ˙ h), 15.671 g/(kg ˙ h), and 10.5 g/(kg ˙ h), respectively.
The value of Run C is around 1.5 times higher than that of Control system. The
decomposition rate of the second stage is controlled by concentration of
substrate. Although the organic matter decomposition rates were similar to all
Runs, inoculation could reduce the values of the half velocity coefficient
K_m and could be more efficient to make the composting
stable. Particularly. For Run C, the decomposition rate is high in the first
stage, and K_m is low in the second stage. The results
indicated that the inoculation was efficient for the composting processes.
Keywords: municipal solid waste, inoculation complex microbial community, oxygen consumption, two stages kinetics equations
